Days of the Wildman 1993 - Sponsored by Haro! From Todd Lyons' diaries

Jul 04, 2007

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 17064 times

Sponsored by Haro! November 5th, 1993.
Actual Journal Entry "Rode to work in the morning at GT BMX. I got home & called Haro. They offered me a $500/month sponsorship salary & all travel expenses! I'm cool with that. It's a deal! Welcome to fatness! I'm going to quit my job at GT tomorrow. At night, John Paul Rogers & I drank beer & then rode down by Main Street in Huntington Beach & went to the heavy metal bar, Mazotti's. I met this girl (woman), Leslie. She's from England & she was all up on me. John Paul & I went to another bar with her. We had fun!

When we left, I doubled Leslie on my handlebars back to her house. Funny! She's old! I think she's about 35yrs old. I stayed the night there with her."

Looking Back Now
Man, I was absolutely stoked that Haro was going to pay me $500/month to ride for them. Wow! It felt so good to walk back into work the next day at GT to tell them that I quit. I was only making about $475/month working at GT three day a week. So I was on seventh heaven being able to quit my job and being able to be an official salaried "Pro Rider." This was the first time in my life that a company actually paid me a salary to ride my bike. Man, I couldn't believe it.

How about that "old woman?" Take note that I'm 35 yrs old now. I remember that we used to see her at all the bars & we'd named her O.E. As in "Old English." And sure enough, I went home with O.E. I guess it was my way of celebrating my new Haro sponsorship. I wonder if any girls at the bars nowadays call me the "O.M.?"....

Photo: This photo just goes to show you how stoked I was with my new Haro sponsorship. In ALL of the years I have been riding (26 years), I had never took a photo of just my bike. Man, I was stoked to ride the Haro Monocoque! I can't tell you how many of them frames that I bent in half..

-ToddLyons.com

I started keeping a daily journal way back in 1987 when I was only 15 years old. Back when I was a just afreshman in high school. Since then, every single freakin' day of my life has been documented in these journals. If it happened in my life, then I wrote it down & documented it. And believe me; I've got some stories to tell! Looking back over the years, here is a journal entry that stands out and also my comments looking back now.